Heart: Afghan police said on Monday that an
anti-Taliban operation in the relatively peaceful west of the
country had killed 27 militants, as a US-led offensive in the
south faced stiff resistance.
Afghan police, supported by international forces,
launched an operation against Taliban in the Bakwa district of
Farah province yesterday, provincial police chief Mohammad
Faqir Askar said to a news agency.
"So far 27 Taliban have been killed and another five,
including their commander Mullah Abdul Bari, have been
arrested," Askar said, adding that the operation was
continuing.
Two heroin-processing laboratories had also been
destroyed, he said.
Farah shares a long and porous border with Iran, and also
neighbours the southern province of Helmand, where Afghan, US
and NATO forces are engaged in one of the biggest operations
of the eight-year war against the Taliban.
US Marines are leading 15,000 Afghan and Western troops
in a fight to take control of the Marjah area of Nad Ali
district in Helmand province, which NATO describes as a last
bastion of Taliban control.
Operation Mushtarak, which means "together" in Dari, puts
into practice a US-led strategy that combines the military
objective of eradicating the Taliban with replacing their
harsh control with civilian authority.
PTI
